CVE-2024-13231 – The WordPress Portfolio Builder plugin has an a... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2024-13231?

CVE-2024-13231 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (MEDIUM). The WordPress Portfolio Builder plugin has an authorization bypass vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to add arbitrary videos to any portfolio gallery. This affects all WordPress sites using the plugin version 1.1.7 or earlier. The vulnerability stems from missing capability checks in the 'add_video' function.

📋 TL;DR

The WordPress Portfolio Builder plugin has an authorization bypass vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to add arbitrary videos to any portfolio gallery. This affects all WordPress sites using the plugin version 1.1.7 or earlier. The vulnerability stems from missing capability checks in the 'add_video' function.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

WordPress Portfolio Builder – Portfolio Gallery plugin

Versions: All versions up to and including 1.1.7

Operating Systems: Any OS running WordPress

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Affects all WordPress installations with the vulnerable plugin version installed and activated.

📦 What is this software?

Portfoliohub by Portfoliohub

View all CVEs affecting Portfoliohub →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Attackers could inject malicious or inappropriate video content into portfolio galleries, potentially compromising site integrity, damaging reputation, or serving malicious content to visitors.

🟠

Likely Case

Unauthorized video additions to galleries, potentially including spam, inappropriate content, or links to malicious sites.

🟢

If Mitigated

Limited impact if proper access controls and content moderation are in place, though unauthorized content modifications would still occur.

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH

🏢 Internal Only: LOW

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: LIKELY

Unauthenticated Exploit: ⚠️ Yes

Complexity: LOW

The vulnerability is straightforward to exploit as it requires no authentication and involves simple HTTP requests to the vulnerable endpoint.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 1.1.8 or later

Vendor Advisory: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/uber-grid/tags/1.1.8

Restart Required: No

Instructions:

1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Portfolio Builder – Portfolio Gallery'. 4. Click 'Update Now' if update is available. 5. Alternatively, download version 1.1.8+ from WordPress plugin repository and replace the plugin files.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable vulnerable plugin

all

Temporarily deactivate the Portfolio Builder plugin until patched

wp plugin deactivate uber-grid

Restrict access to admin-ajax.php

linux

Limit access to the vulnerable endpoint via web application firewall or .htaccess rules

# Add to .htaccess: <Files "admin-ajax.php"> Require all denied </Files>

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Implement web application firewall rules to block unauthorized requests to admin-ajax.php endpoint
Enable strict access controls and monitor for unauthorized gallery modifications

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Installed Plugins for 'Portfolio Builder – Portfolio Gallery' version 1.1.7 or earlier

Check Version:

wp plugin list --name='Portfolio Builder – Portfolio Gallery' --field=version

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify plugin version is 1.1.8 or later in WordPress admin panel

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Unusual POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=add_video
Multiple failed authentication attempts followed by successful gallery modifications

Network Indicators:

HTTP POST requests to admin-ajax.php with add_video action from unauthenticated sources

SIEM Query:

source="web_access.log" AND uri="/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" AND method="POST" AND params.action="add_video" AND NOT user_agent="WordPress/*"

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2024-13231

CVSS v3 Score: 5.3 (MEDIUM)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

CWE: CWE-862

EPSS Score: 0.5% exploit probability (65.3th percentile)

Published: February 19, 2025

Last Updated: March 10, 2025

🔗 References

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